5/6 Coal trains, fish kill, Island Co. shores, Elwha mud, derelict vessels, fish virus, Tethys, Squamish Harbor, Nisqually Center, Peninsula marine center, humpback ESA

Snoqualmie peregrine (Scott Dodson)

New blog: “The Puget Sound Partnership has done social research into how the 4.5 million of us think and feel about Puget Sound and is launching a new Puget Sound Starts Here campaign this month. Take a look at the campaign website...”  Puget Sound Starts Here Launches New Campaign

If you like to watch: Puget Sound Energy is proud to announce the debut of four newly-hatched Peregrine Falcons. Mom and Dad Peregrine are longtime residents of the cliff face downstream of Snoqualmie Falls. Like any new parents, mom and dad are busy with feedings. You can see them tending to their chicks on a web cam installed this week by Puget Sound Energy. If Mom and Dad are out hunting, you can see small signs of the new chicks in their nest. Meet the peregrines: Snoqualmie Falls 'falcon cam’ goes live  

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is helping to lead a charge to derail a coal train proposal. He wants city leaders to stop plans to run coal through our state. If approved, as much as 140 million tons of coal a year could come from Montana and Wyoming and run up and down our coastline. Mayor McGinn is hoping to find a better, and more environmentally friendly solution to energy issues. "Shipping coal is a 19th century proposal. This is a 21st century city. This is a city in the future, there's a way for us to grow jobs," he said. McGinn and supporters speak out against coal trains  

In sloughs throughout the Skagit Valley this time of the year, chinook and other salmon hatchlings are fattening up for their journey to the ocean later in their lives. One day last week in Browns Slough was no different. After setting a fine-mesh fish trap and waiting for the tide to recede, researchers with the Skagit River System Cooperative captured and counted 416 fingerling chinook, several hundred young chum salmon, a handful of coho smolts and several other species. The next day, hundreds of shiner perch were found dead on the banks of Browns Slough. Kate Martin reports.  Fish die-off in Browns Slough a mystery

Concerned residents and business owners took one last opportunity this week to voice their thoughts about Island County’s Shoreline Master Program. On Wednesday, the state Department of Ecology held an open house and public hearing in Coupeville. The agency, charged with reviewing and approving the county’s recently adopted program, will accept written comments for several more weeks, but this was the department’s only scheduled public meeting before Ecology officials make a decision. Critics didn’t waste the opportunity as more than 35 people attended the three-hour event. Justin Burnett reports. Whidbey residents voice concerns about shoreline rules  

Additional repairs are needed for the sediment-clogged Elwha Water Treatment Plant on the Elwha River, and that could push the removal of the remaining 60 feet of Glines Canyon Dam past the initially estimated July 1 resumption date, an Olympic National Park spokeswoman said. Earlier this year, National Park Service staff determined that the backup intake at the water plant, which is 2.8 miles from the river's mouth, needs new sediment-filtering fish screens, and two of six screens have been replaced by National Park Service contractor Macnak Construction. Jeremy Schwartz and Paul Gottlieb report. More repairs needed at water plant, will likely hold up Elwha River dam removal work

Environmental disasters such as the 2012 sinking of the F/V Deep Sea in Penn Cove may soon be a little more avoidable. The state Legislature approved a bill last week that preserves funding for the state’s derelict vessel program and sharpens the effectiveness of existing laws. The legislation sailed through the House and Senate with hefty majority votes and has been forwarded to Gov. Jay Inslee to sign into law. Justin Burnett reports.  New bill takes aim at derelict marine vessels

Like mariners scanning the horizon from the crow's nest, scientists have for years been on the lookout in the Pacific Northwest for signs that a dreaded salmon-killing disease, scourge to farmed salmon in other parts of the world, has arrived here, threatening some of the world's richest wild salmon habitats. Most say there is no evidence. But for years, a biologist in Canada named Alexandra Morton — regarded by some as a visionary Cassandra, by others as a misguided prophet of doom — has said definitively and unquestionably that they are wrong. Kirk Johnson reports. Scientists are divided over virus threat to Northwest salmon   See also: Fish farms allied with government, activists say  

Skagit County will seek outside legal advice for a complicated and controversial Anacortes land-use issue instead of relying on its legal staff. That’s welcome news to some, who say the county could run into trouble with perceived conflicts of interest that could influence a decision by Skagit County commissioners in the matter. The commissioners will consider a proposal by the city of Anacortes to change its long-term growth area to accommodate an industrial-scale food and beverage plant, championed by Tethys Enterprises Inc., on the outskirts of the city. Before the plan moves forward, commissioners must decide whether to review the proposal later this year. Kate Martin reports. County seeks to avoid drama in Anacortes land-use issue  

Misspelled or not, Squamish Harbor on Hood Canal will keep its name, following an intense disagreement among local Indian tribes. That was the decision Friday by the Washington State Committee on Geographic Names, which reversed its earlier decision to change the spelling. The committee also rejected a new name proposed for the harbor. The Suquamish Tribe, based in North Kitsap, proposed an official name change to correct the spelling from “Squamish” to “Suquamish,” which is the name first assigned to the harbor in 1841 by Capt. Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Exploring Expedition.... The proposed change did not go over well with four tribes typically associated with Hood Canal because of fishing activities supported by the Treaty of Point No Point. They are the Skokomish, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam and Lower Elwha S’Klallam tribes. Chris Dunagan reports. Squamish Harbor will keep its name, for now

The Nisqually Tribe celebrated the opening of its new tribal center Friday morning. The 26,000-square-foot building, constructed opposite the old center, that will house many of the services that the tribe’s 760 members use. The event included drum and dance performances by the tribe’s Canoe Family, a prayer and blessing, speeches, and a ribbon cutting by Tribal Council members.  Rolf Boone reports. Nisqually Tribe celebrates opening of new tribal center

Some time in the next five years, an “iconic” 27,902- square-foot, $12.6 million marine life education and research building could rise in downtown Port Angeles to anchor the new waterfront area, according to those who hope to see the change. The Feiro Marine Life Center, the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary and the city have released a feasibility study for a shared facility. The study calls for a 4,500-square-foot exhibit area, wet and dry classrooms, wet and dry marine laboratories, a dive room, a 5,800-square-foot conference center, and offices for administrators, scientists and graduate students working with both the marine center and the sanctuary. Arwyn Rice reports. New $12 million marine center envisioned for Port Angeles  

A group of Hawaii fishermen is asking the federal government to remove northern Pacific humpback whales from the endangered species list, saying the population has steadily grown since the international community banned commercial whaling nearly 50 years ago. Hawaii Fishermen's Alliance for Conservation and Tradition Inc., a coalition of fishing clubs and groups from across the islands, filed a petition to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last month. There are more than 21,000 humpback whales in the North Pacific today, compared with about 1,400 in the mid-1960s....The fishermen say they don't want whaling to resume and aren't asking to be allowed to hunt the whales. They're also not trying to make it easier for them to catch fish, as they say the law's protections for the whales don't interfere with fishing. Instead, the fishermen are acting after watching environmental conservation groups petition to add many more species to the endangered list in recent years, like dozens of corals, seven different damselfish and a rare dolphin called a false killer whale, said Philip Fernandez, the coalition's president. The government should consider humpback whales for removal to maintain a balance, Fernandez said. Fishermen want humpback whales off endangered list  

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 345 AM PDT MON MAY 6 2013
TODAY
E WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SW THIS AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 2 FT AT 7 SECONDS. PATCHY DENSE THIS
 AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT
SW WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 3 FT AT 7 SECONDS. AREAS OF DENSE FOG.

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